


Revelation

by ThirtySixSaveFiles



Series: RSVP [8]
Category: Borderlands, Tales from the Borderlands - Fandom
Genre: Alcohol, M/M, fluff again, mention of past drinking problem
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-02
Updated: 2016-05-02
Packaged: 2018-06-05 21:54:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6725026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThirtySixSaveFiles/pseuds/ThirtySixSaveFiles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rhys figures out a couple of things he probably should have seen a while ago.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Revelation

**Author's Note:**

> Entering the home stretch, everyone. Thank you for coming along with me on this one. :)

It takes a while before Rhys sees it, but when he does he could kick himself.

Jack’s been a bartender for most of his adult life, and he still puts the occasional shift in now that he owns Hyperion, so his exhaustive knowledge of alcohol and cocktails comes as no surprise. He orders drinks all the time - for Rhys when he’s feeling adventurous but can’t decide, or for Nisha if she’s left the table and the waiter comes by. For himself, though, Jack always seems to have soda or water, and if someone asks he always has a line - he’s driving later, he has to be up early tomorrow. Something innocuous.

It takes a while for Rhys to realize that Jack’s friends never ask.

One night Rhys tries to return the favor. They’re out celebrating Rhys’ promotion, and Jack excuses himself to take a call from Angel. Rhys doesn’t mind; it’s apparent to anyone with eyes how much Jack dotes on his daughter, but Rhys gets the feeling that maybe things weren’t always so good between them. Between joint custody and Angel’s hectic schedule, Rhys sees Jack more often than she does, and quite frankly Rhys would find it hard to begrudge Angel anything, let alone a phone call.

So Jack is gone when their server comes by to ask if they need anything, and Rhys orders another manhattan for himself and a Jack and Coke for Jack. Jack had started out with just soda, but they’re celebrating, right?

Jack comes back and Rhys picks up the play-by-play where he left off. He’s just gotten to the really good part, describing Vasquez’s douchebag face when he saw Rhys in his new office, when Jack picks up his drink. His eyes are on Rhys’ face, but when the glass comes underneath his nose he raises his eyebrows and looks down at it.

“Did you order this?” He asks, interrupting Rhys’ loving depiction of the murderous rage in Hugo’s eyes.

“Huh? Oh, yeah - Nisha’s always making ‘Jack and Coke’ jokes, so I figured that’s what you drank. Did I get it wrong?”

Jack hesitates for a moment, and when he finally says, “nah, you’re fine, pumpkin” and sets the glass down Rhys is  _ 100% positive _ that that’s not what Jack had started out to say.

Rhys frowns, and he’s about to open his mouth -  _ that’s not what it looks like _ \- when he sees the careful way Jack sets the glass down just out of casual reach and something clicks.

Oh.  _ Oh. _

He had just assumed - but now that he’s thinking about it (and why is this  _ just now _ occurring to him) he’s never actually  _ seen _ Jack with a drink in his hand that wasn’t non-alcoholic. Jack makes great cocktails, but he never tastes them.

He says he doesn’t need to; he knows they’re good.

When Rhys looks back across the table he finds Jack watching him. Jack’s trying to act casual, but Rhys can see the faint tension in his shoulders, and Rhys knows with a sudden, bone-deep certainty that Jack thinks Rhys is going to judge him for this, that he hasn’t said anything because he thinks that it will lower him in Rhys’ eyes.

Rhys still feels like an idiot; but it looks like they’re well-matched in that regard.

“I’m sorry, Jack, I-” but that’s all he gets out before Jack reaches across the table, grabbing Rhys’ hand.

“Don’t be sorry, sweetheart, it’s not your fault.” His tone is light but there’s relief in his eyes, and if Rhys didn’t love this man already, that right there would have done it.

Rhys’ fingers tighten on Jack’s and Rhys replays what he’s just thought to himself.

_ If he didn’t _ \- but he does, doesn’t he? It doesn’t quite feel like a revelation - it feels like something he’s known all along, like the world resettling into place after a disruption. Rhys watches Jack watching him with something akin to resignation in his eyes, like he’s dodged one bullet but he knows there’s another one coming. It took Rhys a while to see it, but eventually he realized that that Jack treats every potential bump in their relationship like it’s going to be the last straw - like it’s going to be the last straw for  _ Rhys _ , as if Rhys could walk away from this.

Rhys is pretty certain they’re past that, that they have been for a while.

“Hey,” Rhys says gently, shaking his hand a little where it’s caught in Jack’s. “You can tell me this stuff, you know? It’s ok, I promise.”

“I know, I know,” Jack says, but he doesn’t sound like he really believes it. There’s a smile back on his face, though, so Rhys isn’t going to push it.

Not tonight, anyway. At least now Rhys know what he has to do.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me at [ThirtySixSaveFiles](http://thirtysixsavefiles.tumblr.com) on Tumblr!

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic] Revelation](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6734377) by [argentumlupine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/argentumlupine/pseuds/argentumlupine)




End file.
